JIA Inc.
by O'God
Summary: Three world famous females have started a business and managed they're newly remodeled house for the past few years. Now it's time for them to take a vacation and fall in love with three ex-gundam pilots. {disclaimer: characters not mine}


"Duo!"  
  
A young girl ran across the lawn, just as Duo began to run toward her. The two collided in a huge hug, and soon the two were laughing as he twirled her around, lifting her off the ground. When they finally stopped to catch their breath, a few moments were spent in silence as they each regarded a long lost, now found old friend. Not having ended their embrace, the girl gently tugged on Duo's long braid, giggling.  
  
"I see you still have this old thing attached."  
  
"Would I ever part with it?"  
  
"Sister Helen would have a fit if she saw it now."  
  
"What!? Is there mud in it again?!"  
  
Duo began to prance around in mock fright, clutching his hair.  
  
The poor girl almost fell over in laughter.  
  
Duo stopped flouncing around, pretending to glare at her.  
  
"Hmph! It all seems to be perfect shape!"  
  
"Yea, all TEN feet of it!"  
  
Trying his best to look put out, Duo pouted,  
  
"What's wrong with that?"  
  
"Aww, Duo-kun isn't going to start crying is he?"  
  
She teasingly poked Duo in the ribs.  
  
"Wah! You're so mean!" he wailed.  
  
Not being able to hold it back any longer, she let out a long laugh.  
  
Duo continued to pout.  
  
"What's wrong with my braid? Its' perfect in every way…"  
  
"Well," she had finally caught her breath, "either it grew about seven feet, or you shrank, short stuff."  
  
Duo's chest puffed out in pretend anger.  
  
"Who are you calling short stuff!?"  
  
"You," she said giggling.  
  
"Short stuff?" he asked, incredulous, "You're calling 5'11" SHORT STUFF?!"  
  
Unable to talk around her laughter, she just nodded.  
  
"Hmph! And just how tall are you Miss Short-Stuff? 5'6"?!"  
  
"Actually, Duo-kun, I'm 5'7"."  
  
"Like there's a HUGE difference!"  
  
She laughed again, throwing her arms around his waist for another hug.  
  
"Oh, how I've missed you." she said quietly.  
  
"I've missed you too, Li-chan." he whispered softly into her hair.  
  
They stood there for a moment caught in a whirlwind of memories, with her arms around his waist and her head on his chest, while his arms were wrapped around her shoulders and his cheek rested against her soft black hair.  
  
"Ahem."  
  
The abrupt cough brought Duo's attention back to the present.  
  
Turning his head slightly, he noticed the other four ex-gundam pilots standing around, waiting for him. From the way they looked, it was obvious they had been trying to get Duo's attention for a while now.  
  
"Oh. Hehehe." Duo laughed in a small voice.  
  
Pulling away from Li, he turned to introduce his new friends to his old one.  
  
"Hey guys! This is Li. We go way back."  
  
There was a chorus of 'hi's' back, and Li made a shy gesture of hello.  
  
"Oh, right. And Li, this is…"  
  
Duo began to list off each one of the gundam pilots.  
  
"Quatre, he's really nice and stuff…"  
  
Quatre reached out to shake her hand and politely greeted her.  
  
"Oh, and the tall one in the back is Trowa, he never talks…"  
  
Trowa just nodded, seemingly undisturbed by Duo's brief summary of him.  
  
"This guy is Heero, but don't get your hopes up, he's all Quatre's…"  
  
Heero gave her a small rare smile, but frowned at Duo.  
  
Li smiled back, partly because she was being polite, and partly because of Duo's antics. He always managed to stir up trouble.  
  
"And, that uptight Chinese-looking weirdo in the back, by the way don't ever mention anything about justice anywhere near him…"  
  
"Duo….!!!" A menacing growl came from the Chinese boy who Duo continued describing, seemingly unaware of the impending danger.  
  
"…and don't even get me started about his obsession with his gundam, and what's the weirdest thing about him, is his thing with women, I mean did you know…"  
  
"Duo!?" Li tried desperately to warn him (by poking him in the stomach) before the furious boy managed pounced on him.  
  
Duo continued to babble.  
  
"…he did have a wife for a while, but no, he's got this whole thing against women… sometimes I'm not sure if he's not gay!"  
  
That comment got a 'tsk' from Quatre, a glare from Heero, and a war cry from the Chinese boy as he threw himself at Duo.  
  
Duo just laughed and began to run away, taunting the poor boy as he went.  
  
"Oh, yea! Just to let you know, Li. His name is…" Duo yelled from across the yard. "ACK! WUFEI!!!!"  
  
The two boys fell in a heap, as Wufei managed to tackle Duo to the ground.  
  
Li was worried for a moment, until she realized that Duo was able to avoid all of Wufei's punches. Not from skill, she mused, but from the fact that he was laughing too hard to stay in one place, and was currently rolling all over the yard, holding his sides.  
  
"I'm assuming he hasn't changed much?"  
  
Li turned to find Quatre looking at her. She sighed and shrugged.  
  
"He's changed a little since I last saw him. Considering at the time we had to act more adult than anything else, he's seemed to… un-grow-up or something like that."  
  
The two watched silently for a minute as the pair of boys romping around on the grass started to calm down.  
  
Heero interrupted the quiet with a question that sounded more like a grunt.  
  
"Duo said you were into engineering. Did you do any during the war?"  
  
Li blushed a little.  
  
"Well, actually I'm more into architecture now, but yea I did some stuff during the war."  
  
"Do you have any experience with mobile suits?"  
  
Heero seemed really curious. She just blushed even more.  
  
"Um, yea."  
  
"Hn."  
  
Once again there was a moment of silence, as the conversation quieted.  
  
"So you worked for OZ."  
  
Li jumped a bit. She had forgotten about the other "silent" boy.  
  
"Well, no."  
  
That reply got her three sets of eyes that were suddenly curious about her answer.  
  
She smiled nervously.  
  
"Don't kill me or nothing, but I was hired to help with the gundams."  
  
Li plunged ahead, before any of them could respond.  
  
"I was just a girl with a lot of talent in the field of engineering. Though I wasn't allowed to test out any of my ideas, I was permitted to help with the drafting of the custom models."  
  
Quatre looked considerably stunned.  
  
"But I always thought that the professors were the ones who…"  
  
"Oh, no don't get me wrong," Li quickly replied, "they are geniuses when it comes to engineering and such. I learned a lot from them. Its just that they were all pretty old. They needed my help to get everything laid out and test the piloting."  
  
Heero looked pretty interested in what she was saying.  
  
"So you tested out Zero?"  
  
She nodded. She remembered his particular suit.  
  
"I did a little, but they were too afraid that I couldn't handle it, so I didn't do much."  
  
Li shrugged.  
  
"I mainly worked on the Sandrock and Heaveyarms customs."  
  
"Really?" Quatre seemed to brighten at the mention of his beloved gundam.  
  
"So you knew who we were."  
  
Trowa added yet another stoic statement to the conversation.  
  
"Ah, no." she rubbed her arm sheepishly. "I had no clue to your actually identity. Yes, I did know the strengths, weaknesses, and fighting techniques of pilots 01, 02, 03, 04, and 05. But never anything more."  
  
Duo and Wufei must have worked out a compromise, because Duo came back relatively unharmed, and Wufei satisfied in some judicial way. The braided baka sauntered up and draped his arm over Li's shoulders, joining the conversation immediately in a loud and boisterous manner.  
  
"So what's up!? Whatcha all talking about?"  
  
Li smiled and offered an answer.  
  
"I was just telling them about how I worked on the gundams."  
  
"Freaky, ain't it!?" Duo laughed, "My best friend working under my nose the whole time and neither of us knew it!"  
  
Quatre nodded, "Yes, I'm curious on how you met Duo then, if you didn't even know anything more than his suit number and statistics."  
  
Coloring brightly, Duo stammered, "Well, uh, we kinda met…"  
  
Li snickered at her friend, then spoke up for him.  
  
"We met up again through Hilde."  
  
Groans echoed through the air at the mention of Duo's tormentor.  
  
Li laughed. "I really don't get why you don't like her."  
  
Duo straightened himself to yell at her, "Well you don't like her either!"  
  
Li laughed even harder. "Yea, so at least I don't cringe at the sound of her name."  
  
"Boo-hoo, aren't you lucky!" Duo shot back sarcastically.  
  
Wufei, not making the necessary connections, grumbled, "Well, how did you know Hilde in the first place? And what do you mean by 'met up again'"?  
  
"Oh, well, after finishing my work with the gundams, I joined up with Howard, and eventually teamed up as the background technician with Sally Po and Noin. And through her search for her loved one," Li stressed the 'loved one', just put her friend in further distress, "Hilde and I ended up running into each other. After a little talk, I decided to tag along on her little hunt."  
  
Duo, after having removed the look of boredom/disgust/sticking-his-tongue- out, continued with the explanation of how they had met.  
  
"Yea, and you know how I told you guys about the old Maxwell church I grew up in."  
  
There was a chorus of nods.  
  
"That's where Li and I first met, if you wanna get real technical. We were best friends then too. She was always drawing dumb figures in the dirt and yelling at me for stealing stuff and fighting and all."  
  
"BECAUSE you were always getting in trouble!" Li defended herself.  
  
"Well, sorr-y! Can't a guy have a little fun!?"  
  
"Not when I always have to apologize for the pranks you pull!!"  
  
"Geez! ANYWAYS, as I was say'n we were best buds, and stuff. Then OZ hit the church and all of that trauma went down." Duo shifted a little uncomfortably, but continued, "So up until about 4 years ago, I thought I was the only one who survived the…"  
  
The other four silently processed all this information.  
  
"So basically," Heero summed up their little chat, "you two knew each other from childhood, got separated by OZ, until Duo by chance was reunited with his 'dead' best friend through his worst nightmare?"  
  
"Yea 'dead'-stupid."  
  
Duo bent over in pain as Li dealt him a low blow with her elbow to the stomach, and smiled at the others.  
  
"Basically, that's it. Except that it wasn't by chance. I heard Hilde talk about Duo and had to see for myself if it was the real Duo Maxwell."  
  
"Hmph." was Duo's contribution.  
  
"I'm still not sure." Li teased.  
  
Duo regained himself, and was about to get back at her, when her cell phone rang.  
  
  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"DORK!! We've been waiting for you for the last hour!!"  
  
"What?! Why!? How!?"  
  
"Stupid, you turned off your cell phone didn't you!!?"  
  
"No! I didn't! I wouldn't be talking to you if I had!"  
  
"Well, whatever. We've called you like TEN times!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because we caught the early flight out, since the show sold out faster than we thought."  
  
"Oh, how'd it go?"  
  
"Well, everyone seems to want a J.I.A. house. Once we get back from our badly needed vacation, our work is going to be piled. I hope you can work your overdrive magic, because I'm can just see Spence clogging up our answering machines with new jobs."  
  
"Oh."  
  
*pause*  
  
"'OH' this you stupid girl!! We've called you a bazillion times hoping you would be SMART enough to come pick us up at the airport!"  
  
"Why didn't you just take a cab?"  
  
"BECAUSE our oh so dear friend, JAN, left the directions at home!"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Quit standing there like and idiot saying 'oh' and GET OUT HERE AND PICK US UP!!"  
  
"Fine, fine. Wait let me talk to Jan."  
  
"GAH!!"  
  
*pause*  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Jan?"  
  
"Oh my god! Save me!!"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"She's going insane! Just get out here and pick us up!!"  
  
"But wait! I want to know how the show-"  
  
"Just get out here before it gets any worse!!"  
  
"But!-"  
  
"ACK!! She's coming after me!!! WAHH-"  
  
*click*  
  
Li stared at her cell phone for a minute before she turned back to the group.  
  
"Who was that, babe?" Duo asked casually.  
  
After glaring for a brief moment at the use of the term 'babe', Li sighed, "It was my friends, you know the ones I said were going to come out for a vacation with me."  
  
"Oh, yea. Them."  
  
"'Oh, yea. Them.'" Li mimicked sarcastically. "Yea, well now I got to figure out a way to get them to the house, since they're here."  
  
"Already!?" Duo stopped his copycat game, stunned by the news. "But I thought they weren't coming out for a while longer!?"  
  
"They weren't but the show sold out so fast, it seems, that they got out early. Though I have no idea how they got past Spencer..?"  
  
"B-U-T!!! I don't want to share you right now!! I haven't seen you in forever, and I wanted to talk to you about all the stuff that's been going on, and I wanted you to meet MY friends, and hang out with us, and it just be us guys and you and and and and and…!!!"  
  
Duo seemed to be truly throwing a tantrum, not just joking around.  
  
"DUO!! Stop whining, please! I'm sorry this didn't work out but they're here, on L4 waiting in the airport, for me to come pick them up. Maybe we can go out later or something but right now I've got to go get them."  
  
Li looked very flustered when she began going through her pockets looking for the keys to her rental. She started to walk off to her car, leaving Duo in a huff, when someone tugged on her arm, holding her back.  
  
She turned to find Heero's hand attached to her elbow, and Quatre's concerned gaze.  
  
"We can send a butler to go get them if you want." Quatre offered.  
  
Li smiled at the gesture.  
  
"Thanks but I think it'd be best if I went to get them."  
  
"Are you sure-"  
  
"We'll pick them up." Heero interrupted his small lover.  
  
"Wha?" seemed to be an overall response, as not only both Li's and Quatre's response to the statement, but also Duo's.  
  
"I mean, " Heero clarified, "that Quatre and I will go meet them personally."  
  
The three just stared at him for a minute.  
  
"And Wufei." the ex-wing pilot added.  
  
Yet, again the universal response of 'wha?' was heard, just much louder.  
  
Quatre smiled. "Ok, by me."  
  
Duo looked just like a little kid who had just been given the entire ice cream truck rather than just one puny Popsicle.  
  
"Hell YES!! This means that you can stay with me for awhile longer and we-"  
  
"WAIT! NO! I NEVER SAID ANYTHING-" Wufei looked anything but happy with this situation.  
  
"It is your decision." Heero looked at Li for a response.  
  
"SAY 'YES' WOMAN AND I'LL-"  
  
Wufei was effectively cut off by Trowa hitting him on the back of the head.  
  
Li just looked a little bewildered for a moment.  
  
"Well.. ok.. I guess it couldn't hurt anyone."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"YES!!"  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"  
  
*shrug*  
  
"Hey wait! What about Tro?" Duo stopped dancing around in circles. "I mean no offense man," Trowa just stared, indifferent. "But with the three of you running off-"  
  
"WE ARE NOT RUNNING OFF!! I AM NOT RUNNING OFF!!"  
  
"Anyways…" Duo continued, "won't it all be a little awkward?"  
  
"Duo!" Li and Quatre cried out in unison.  
  
"Really, Duo." Heero added. "Don't be so inconsiderate."  
  
"INCONSIDERATE!! LOOK WHO'S BEING INCONSIDERATE!!-"  
  
Wufei was yet, again effectively cut off by Trowa hitting on the back of the head.  
  
"What are you going to do?" Quatre asked, looking up at the tall pilot.  
  
Trowa shrugged. "I have stuff around here to do."  
  
With that he turned around and walked off.  
  
"Well then its all settled!" Duo exclaimed.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"  
  
After Li had given the boys pictures of her two friends, she was dragged away by Duo, to go catch up on gossip and things. Trowa seemed to have effectively disappeared, leaving the two boys to haul a hollering Wufei to Quatre's new limo. Once in the car Wufei quieted to a 'honorable' pout, and mumble the whole way to the airport about injustice and gay bunnies. He was expectantly told to shut up by Heero, who wasn't in the mood for sarcastic jokes about him and Quatre snuggling.  
  
A couple hours later, the pair of old friends was found perched on Duo's bed. The two were gossiping and laughing and basically really enjoying themselves.  
  
"She didn't!"  
  
"Yes, she did!!" Duo exclaimed waving his arms in the air for emphasis.  
  
"But it's your BRAID!!"  
  
"I know! I couldn't believe it either!!"  
  
Li fell over laughing.  
  
"I never thought she tortured you so much."  
  
"Hey! It's not funny!!"  
  
"Yes, it is!" Li retorted through a fit of giggles.  
  
"Oh, GOD and don't even get me started on Dorothy's eyebrows!"  
  
"Ah! The infamous eyebrows!"  
  
Duo did his best impression of Dorothy, then Relena, then Heero, then….  
  
Soon neither could talk because it hurt too much. And if they tried, it would only end up hurting more. Their cheeks and stomachs hurt from so much laughter. They lay in a heap on Duo's messy bed. Actually the whole room was a mess, so it wasn't fair to say it was just the bed.  
  
"God," Li whispered, "I wish my room were like this."  
  
"Huh?" Duo rolled over to look at her. "This place is a mess."  
  
"I know, that's what I like about it."  
  
"The mess?" he was really confused.  
  
"Well, no not really, but more of the fact that you can keep it this way."  
  
"I still don't get it."  
  
Li sighed, and rolled over on to her stomach, next to Duo.  
  
"If my room were like this at home, Ai would have a fit."  
  
"Oh! Right Ai is your friend who does the interior designing."  
  
"Yea that's the one."  
  
"Hmm… she's sounds really cool though."  
  
"She is." Li smiled. Then she smirked, and tugged Duo's braid. Hard.  
  
He just lay there, on his stomach, stunned for a moment. Then, as if he had remembered something, his eyes sparkled and he began his ominous countdown.  
  
"10… 9… 8…"  
  
Li quickly rolled off the bed, and ran for the door.  
  
"7… 6… 5…"  
  
Duo began to count faster, as she tried to get the door open.  
  
"4, 3, 2, ONE!!"  
  
The door banged open, as Li bolted from the room.  
  
She almost made it to the kitchen, before Duo tackled her onto the couch in the living room. After tickling her silly, he straightened himself, and proudly pronounced,  
  
"HA! You can never win against the great SHINIGAMI!!"  
  
Li just laughed and shoved him off of her and the couch, onto the floor. Duo made the most ungraceful 'thump' of a sound.  
  
"I still win." floated up from the floor where Duo lay.  
  
"You cheat." Li retorted.  
  
"What!? No way!!"  
  
"You can't count that fast!!"  
  
"Yes, I can! I'm the great Shinigami!"  
  
"You cheat, oh-great-god-of-IDIOCY!"  
  
"Do not! And get my name right!"  
  
"Name one time that you haven't!"  
  
"What!? I never cheat!"  
  
"Name one, Duo."  
  
"Ok, fine! What about that time, after mass?"  
  
"You climbed up a tree!"  
  
"Did not!"  
  
"Did too!"  
  
"Fine, what about during the parade?"  
  
"You got lost and cried."  
  
"No! That was you!"  
  
"Oh right."  
  
"Now who's not playing fair."  
  
"Hey, wait! You tricked me and left me behind, after Sister Helen specifically told you not to!!"  
  
"She did not!"  
  
"And you didn't come back until it was all over!"  
  
"But I brought you doughnuts!"  
  
"You STOLE them!"  
  
"Oh yea."  
  
"Yea."  
  
"And we both got extra chores because you wouldn't stop crying."  
  
"Because you TRICKED me!"  
  
There was a quiet knock on the door, which caught both people's attention. Trowa calmly walked into the room, and stared at the pair, who were both on the floor now.  
  
"Quatre just called." was all he said.  
  
"Oh, um, thanks Tro." Duo smiled, waiting for him to continue.  
  
"He says that there's a lot of traffic, and they won't be here for a while." He remained as stoic as ever.  
  
"Oh, did he say anything about my friends? Are they ok?" Li asked hurriedly.  
  
"I assume they're fine. Quatre, Heero, and Wufei are being polite."  
  
"Ok. Thanks."  
  
Before Trowa could leave, Duo spoke up.  
  
"So whatcha been up to?"  
  
The pilot in question just shrugged, "There's been a information update about the case-"  
  
"Aw, man!" Duo cut in, "You're doing WORK when we're on vacation!?"  
  
Trowa just stared at the braided wonder.  
  
"Geez, I feel really bad about before," Duo continued to talk, "so why don't you hang out with me and Li for awhile?"  
  
The tall pilot looked from Duo, then to Li.  
  
She just smiled, "I don't mind. Besides it'd be interesting to find out more about the mysterious Heavyarms pilot."  
  
Duo blinked in confusion, "But I thought you didn't know who we were, so how did you know…?"  
  
Li laughed, "Well, considering I did do most of the modifications for that particular gundam, I figured it must be him, because none of the rest of you fit the height description."  
  
"Oh." Duo took a minute or two longer catch on. "But I grew taller, so how did you know it wasn't me?"  
  
"Yea, well it was pretty obvious which gundam was your choice."  
  
"Hell yea!" Duo put up a fighting stance in honor of his gundam.  
  
Li just smiled and rolled her eyes.  
  
"So, anyway, Tro you wanna come with us to get some chow?"  
  
As if on cue, Duo's stomach let out a loud grumble of hunger.  
  
Trowa nodded, "Sure."  
  
The trio headed for the kitchen to find something to quiet Duo's stomach. As Duo searched for something edible within Quatre's large pantries, Li and Trowa quietly conversed about the efficency and structure of Heaveyarms.  
  
A few mintutes later, Duo shuffled over and dumped the of food that was in his arms, onto the table.  
  
Li blinked, "I can't eat all this."  
  
"Don't worry," Trowa replied, "Dou'll eat about three-fourths of it all."  
  
Duo turned to stare, wide-eyed at Trowa. Li just laughed.  
  
"Did the Tro-man just make a joke!?"  
  
"Hmph." Was Trowa's reply, as he snagged a bag of chips from the enormous pile.  
  
Li continued to stare at the heap of food that covered the table, looking bewildered.  
  
"So, babe, what do you want-ta start with? There's cookies, cake, pie, cupcakes, chips, ice cream, sodas, muffins, doughnuts, sandwichs…"  
  
Duo continued to ramble on incessantly about the "chow" splayed out.  
  
"Basically," Trowa interrupted, "which of these artery-clogging foods do you want to try digesting?"  
  
Pausing in his babble, Duo turned to Trowa.  
  
"Man, you're on a roll today! Two jokes in the same year! This is great-"  
  
Li had slapped Duo lightly on the back of the head, to get him to shut up, while she just laughed.  
  
"Those chips look pretty good."  
  
Trowa obligingly handed over the bag, to share.  
  
The three sat there munching upon the various snacks, losing all track of any conversation.  
  
That was until Duo opened his mouth (which was currently filled with food).  
  
"So, what do you guys wanna do now?"  
  
Utterly grossed out by Duo's display of "sea-food", they just sat there, unresponding.  
  
"Hmmm… what's there to do around here?"  
  
Duo sat pondering, while Li and Trowa exchanged glances mixed between fear, curiouity, and nausea.  
  
"I KNOW!" Duo exclaimed, jumping up with way too much enthusiasm, "Let's play Nintendo!"  
  
Li groaned and looked as though she was going to faint.  
  
"Oy, Duo. Can't we do something else?"  
  
"Naw! This is gonna be great!"  
  
Li continued to protest, "But I really-"  
  
"Don't worry about it. If you have any problems, which I'm sure you won't because you're an engineering genius, Trowa will help you out! Wontcha Tro!?"  
  
Li still didn't look very convinced.  
  
"Awww!!! Come on!!!" Duo whined.  
  
"Fine, fine." Li finally gave in to the inevitable. "But Trowa's on my team!"  
  
"Okie-dokie! This is gonna be great! What about you, Tro?"  
  
"Do I have a choice?"  
  
"No!" was the chorused response.  
  
After receiving orders from Duo, each person grabbed as much as they could of the snacks, and followed a bouncing braid to the entertainment room. Once they got there, they piled all of the food onto a near by coffee table, and began to play. Or for some, tried to play.  
  
"Can't I just sit and watch?" Li still really wanted to get out of playing.  
  
"No!" Duo stuck firm to his decision. "Besides, you're starting to get the hang of it."  
  
"No, I'm not!"  
  
"So, do you want to play winner, Tro?" Duo took a moment to look away from the screen where he was currently picking his character. His favorite character was the elf boy named Link. He had fairly good skill and could move pretty well, but what really got Duo was his sword. Ok, ok so Duo's favorite thing isn't a sword, but it was the closest thing to a scythe in the game.  
  
Trowa just shrugged at Duo's question.  
  
"Ok, I'll take that as a yes. What about you, babe?" Duo turned to look at her, "You wanna play one game or best out of something?"  
  
"Um… I dunno why don't we play one game." Li was still confused on which character to pick. They all looked so strange. And she didn't know any of their strengths or weaknesses. The only thing that she narrowed down was that she was definitely NOT picking the two characters she had identified as Pokemon.  
  
As it turned out Li had ended up picking a little puffball named Kirby. Soon, actually in an incredibly short amount of time, Duo had kicked her little marshmallows round ass.  
  
"Hehe, so you wanna play best out of five?" Duo offered.  
  
Li just groaned.  
  
Suddenly, Trowa pulled her into his lap, simply stating, "Let me help."  
  
He leaned down and began to whisper in her ear, obviously teaching her the tactics of the game.  
  
For a moment, Duo just stared. The intimacy of their position obviously didn't bother Li or Trowa, but Duo was definitely sensing something more than just friendship in Trowa's action. Since when did he ever touch anyone? Then Duo's jaw suddenly dropped. (The other two were unaware of this though)  
  
'He's flirting with her!' Duo's mind screamed. 'But since when-'  
  
Unfortunately for him, his thought process was cut off, when Li asked if he was ready to lose this time. After promising himself he would get some answers out of the banged-boy later, he closed his mouth and made some, probably stupid, retort back.  
  
With Trowa's arms around her, helping with the controls, Li gained much more confidence in her playing ability. Eventually the pair won over Duo, in a long drawn out battle. They won partially because of Li and Duo constantly bickering back and forth, sometimes messing up Duo, but mostly because Trowa had take over the controls.  
  
"Yea! Go us!" Li cried out, turning around to hug Trowa.  
  
Duo sat stunned, once again his mouth hanging wide open.  
  
"No way! How did you…"  
  
Duo stopped as he realized that no one was listening to him. Now, normally that wouldn't have stopped him, but normally it wasn't his best friends flirting together.  
  
Li was lying in Trowa's arms, talking quietly to him about something. Neither seemed bothered by their closeness and both were smiling.  
  
Duo was amazed, he had never seen Trowa smile, well yes he had, just it never lasted very long. And it definitely never looked like that!  
  
'God, don't tell me he's fallen head over heals in love with her already!'  
  
It wasn't necessarily bad if Trowa liked her, its just that they hadn't even met less than two hours ago! And it wasn't as if they had spent that time together. She had been with him.  
  
Duo's thought process was interrupted yet again, this time by Trowa.  
  
"Huh?" Duo hadn't been listening, therefor didn't know what Trowa had asked him.  
  
"Did you say something?" he repeated quietly.  
  
"Oh… yea! I mean how the hell did you guys mange to beat the all mighty Shinigami!? Man, my luck must be out on a vacation. Or maybe it's cuz I never play games like this anymore and …" Duo continued to babble about whatever he could think of at the moment.  
  
"Do you want to play again?" Li looked over at Duo.  
  
"A rematch, huh?" Duo answered with a wacky grin slowly spreading across his face. "You're on babe! And you too Tro-man!"  
  
Soon they had started another game, and all three were pretty intent on winning. Li was more of a cheerleader than an actual participant, while Trowa and Duo battled it out. The matches ended up going both ways, each team won a few. Finally, after having their fill of fighting each other, they set the computer to its highest level and began to battle as a team.  
  
They passed quite a bit of time, amusing themselves with the Nintendo. Li was still in Trowa's lap and Duo had changed his position on the floor so many times, that Li had finally yelled at him to sit still. Of course, Duo couldn't sit still if his life depended on it, so he was still shifting and bouncing around. They had also managed to finish off most of the food Duo had piled into the room, so mounds of torn wrappers and empty bags and cans surrounded them.  
  
That was exactly how Ai found them. Fortunately, she didn't have a heart attack.  
  
"There you are!"  
  
Li nearly jumped out of her seat in Trowa's lap.  
  
"Oh my god, Ai! You scared me!"  
  
"Serves you right! Next time you feel like sending us a limo full of guys, could you make at least some of them STRAIGHT!"  
  
At Ai's last comment, Duo nearly spit out the soda he just chugged all over the TV. Once he swallowed, he couldn't stop laughing.  
  
"Is he ok?" Ai looked down at the cute boy rolling around on the floor.  
  
Li snickered, "Yea, he's fine."  
  
Even Trowa had managed a smile at her comment about Heero and Quatre.  
  
"So how was the flight?" Li watched as her friend tried to find a seat on the wrapper littered carpet.  
  
"Same as always. Boring." She ended up having to shove a couple piles away to sit down in between Duo and Li.  
  
"God I'm tired." Ai stated with a sigh.  
  
"Want to play with us?" Li asked, handing her a controller.  
  
"Sure, what are you guys playing?"  
  
"Um…" Li realized she had no clue.  
  
"Super Smash Brothers." Trowa stated.  
  
"Oh, yippee! I love this game!" Ai bounced with glee.  
  
"I didn't know that!" Li exclaimed.  
  
"Well… um…"  
  
"Hey! You've never even played Nintendo before!"  
  
"So!"  
  
"Liar!"  
  
"God, you're so stupid sometimes, Li."  
  
"Wha?" Li was confused by the sudden direction change in the conversation.  
  
"I just said that for kicks." Ai explained.  
  
"What? The part about me being stupid?"  
  
"No, that I love this game. I always say you're stupid."  
  
"Mou!" Li pouted.  
  
"Let's play." Trowa interjected.  
  
Li turned back to the television, and Trowa leaned down to whisper to her again. The two conversed quietly for a minute.  
  
Ai suddenly realized that Li wasn't sitting by herself. That in fact she was seated in a tall boy's lap. She sat there stunned (much like Duo!) for a moment, until Duo whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. It surprised me at first too."  
  
Ai turned to look at Duo again. He smiled at her.  
  
Well, she knew he was cute when she first say him, but now he was just plain gorgeous. 'My god. His hair is beautiful.' Ai thought.  
  
Duo turned away for a second and then returned with a bag of cookies in his hand.  
  
"Want some?" he said offering the bag to her.  
  
Ai smiled back and took some of the cookies.  
  
They were good, not as good as her homemade kind but good none the less.  
  
"So what do you think," Duo whispered, "should we team up against those love birds or not?"  
  
Ai snickered in agreement.  
  
"Ok let's start!" Li shouted.  
  
Both Duo and Ai turned back to the TV.  
  
But before they started, Duo decided to up their odds. He tossed the fourth, extra controller to Li. She missed it, and Trowa ended up catching it before it hit her. She just blinked at it when he handed it to her.  
  
"Wha?"  
  
"I think that you need to start contributing to the fights, babe."  
  
"But I'm not-" but Li wasn't allowed to finish her complaint.  
  
"You should play for a while." Trowa cut in.  
  
"Oh no! Not you too!" she looked up at him, distressed.  
  
"You won't learn by watching me." He pointed out.  
  
"Yes I will!" Li was really desperate.  
  
"Quit whining and play, Li." Ai retorted.  
  
"Mou!"  
  
And with that the two teams battled yet again. Ai turned out to be a natural, and Li was just as bad as she whined she was. After a large amount of victories on Ai and Duo's part and a lot of whining of Li's part, they decided to leave the game and go find the others. Well, actually only Duo and Ai left to find the others. Trowa decided that Li needed to be punished by ten more rounds of Super Smash, for losing them all their chips, two bags of cookies, and 4 slices of German chocolate cake. When she pointed out that they still had all their sodas, he had added five more rounds to her sentence, for smart mouthing.  
  
"So where is everyone?" Duo asked cheerfully, as the two of them walked down the hallway.  
  
"Well, from what I can tell… I have no clue." Ai replied just as cheerfully.  
  
"Oh, by the way," Duo added, "If you hadn't guessed my name is-"  
  
"Duo" Ai interjected, "and the other guy was Trowa."  
  
"Yea, how'd you know?" he asked, surprised.  
  
"Heero told us about the two of you," she explained, "and what to expect and all.  
  
"Oh, really?" was Duo's reply.  
  
"Uh, yea."  
  
"So, what did he say about me?" Duo questioned.  
  
"Uh, well… hey look! There's Jan!" Ai yelled from the balcony window that she and Duo were passing by.  
  
"JAN!!"  
  
The poor girl nearly had a heart attack. She jumped up in surprise, landing in a ready stance looking for a fight. During all of this she dropped her sketchbook and pencils into the dirt.  
  
"HEY UP HERE!!" Ai waved out the window.  
  
Jan turned around and promptly glared at the girl hanging out the window.  
  
"GOD AI! YOU SCARED ME!"  
  
Ai just shrugged, obviously uncaring of her friend's near heart attack.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ai yelled.  
  
"WELL, I WAS SKETCHING, UNTIL YOU YELLED AT ME!" Jan yelled right back.  
  
"WE'RE COMING DOWN, OK!?" Ai turned around to leave, not giving her friend a chance to respond, which was probably a good thing since Jan's answering comment would have undoubtedly started a yelling match.  
  
Ai grabbed Duo and dragged him down to the gardens where Jan was currently dusting off her stuff.  
  
"Hey!" Ai called.  
  
"Hey yourself." Jan retorted.  
  
"Why in God's name are you drawing?" Ai asked mockingly, as she looked over Jan's shoulder to see what the girl had drawn.  
  
"Because," Jan answered, sounding a little more than annoyed, "I thought we could use this kind of layout for the basic garden in the Peacecraft estates."  
  
"You know Relena?!" Duo asked incredulous.  
  
Jan looked up surprised. She looked at Duo for a moment, then went back to her sketches, "Um, not really, we're just building her summer estate."  
  
"Er, right, I forgot," Ai cut in sheepishly, "Jan this is Duo, and Duo this is-"  
  
"Oh! You're the loud-mouthed eating machine? Wow, I didn't notice your braid at first." Jan smiled and once again returned to her sketches.  
  
Duo returned her smile with a lopsided grin of his own, "Er, yea, that's me."  
  
Their talk quieted for a moment, only the sound of Jan's pencil scratching across the paper was heard.  
  
"So, *ahem*," Duo tried to regain the conversation, "where's Wufei?"  
  
There was a small *snap*, followed by a obscene curse, and then the noise of pencil on paper returned, but this time it sounded almost violent.  
  
Duo watched as Jan seemed to slash out her drawing onto the paper. He then turned to Ai, who seemed to be dazed.  
  
"So, anyone know?" Duo tried again.  
  
"Huh?" Ai looked at him confused. She had just snapped out of her trance of Duo watching. He was just too beautiful. She sighed.  
  
"Um, Ai?" Duo watched as she seemed to space out again.  
  
Once he had gained her attention (not that it was far!) he tried, yet again, "Do you know where Wufei is?"  
  
And, yet another pencil broke, followed by a short curse repeated, until he finally got an answer.  
  
"Oh," Ai said finally paying attention to his question, "I think he ran off somewhere to sulk."  
  
"Huh? Why?"  
  
"Because Jan hurt his pride." Ai stated offhandedly.  
  
"SO WHAT?!" Jan growled, slamming down her sketchbook.  
  
"I mean how can you stand the way he talks!?" she continued, "Did you hear all his crap about women being weak!? What bullshit!"  
  
"Ah!" Duo chuckled, "I see Wufei really turned on the charm."  
  
"What CHARM!?" Jan yelled furiously, "That BOY has less charm than a BRICK!"  
  
Duo couldn't help but laugh. Ai just stood there and basked in his beauty.  
  
"So, basically," Jan continued, "he's just an egotistical, condescending, prejudice JERK!"  
  
With that Jan quickly returned to her drawings, finding a new, unbroken pencil.  
  
Duo whistled at her closing comment.  
  
He was about to make some comment of his own, but Heero showed up suddenly, effectively taking over the conversation.  
  
"Quatre's going to order pizza, what do you guys want?"  
  
Duo noticeably brightened at the mention of food, even though he had just finished off Quatre's entire pantry of junk food.  
  
"Whatever's fine by me." Jan supplied, going back to her sketch. They were beginning to lose the lighting, and she wanted to finish this sketch.  
  
"Cheese or pepperoni, either's good by me." Ai added.  
  
"Duo?" Heero glanced over at Duo, who seemed to be lost in thought.  
  
"Um, cheese definitely, and bell peppers too, anchovies, oh! and those little sausages, those are so good! pepperoni, garlic, onions, tomatoes, got to have those, um… mushrooms, olives, pork, and pineapple, the Hawaiian thing rules! Some chicken, shrimp, yum shrimp! and if the have any get some crab! Oh! I love crab and pizza!" Duo continued to babble out almost everything edible to put on the pizza, while the other three stared at him in a mix of nausea-induced fascination, utter repulsion, and amusement.  
  
"Oh and don't forget to make it an X-Large, Hee-chan." Duo finished, grinning like a maniac.  
  
"Ok, so Ai wants either cheese or pepperoni, Jan you're fine with whatever, and," Heero paled a little at the tally of what exactly Duo wanted. "Duo, you want basically everything."  
  
"Yea, except hold the pickles. Pickles just don't belong on pizza." Duo affirmed.  
  
"Most of what you just said doesn't belong on pizza, Duo." Jan countered.  
  
Duo looked at her in shock at her thoughts on his pizza.  
  
"It does sound kind of gross-" Ai agreed.  
  
"Just kind of?" Jan cut in.  
  
"*AHEM* As I was saying, it does sound kind of gross, but as long as he's going to be the only one eating that pizza…"  
  
"SEE! Ai agrees with me!" Duo exclaimed, throwing his arm around her shoulder.  
  
Ai blushed and said nothing.  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and exchanged looks with Jan. She just shrugged.  
  
"Well as long as Duo's the only one to eat that thing." Heero complied, "But you guys might want to come in soon, it's getting dark." He turned to go, but wasn't quite finished, "By the way, we'll be eating in the dining room. So meet you there around eight."  
  
"Hey wait!" Duo shouted, "I got an idea! Let's all watch a movie and chill out in front of the tube while we eat!" He smiled apparently thinking that it was a genius idea.  
  
"I'll suggest it to Quatre." Heero grunted, and left.  
  
As he walked away, he called over his shoulder, "Oh, yea, has anyone seen Wufei?"  
  
Heero smirked at the sound of Jan snapping her last pencil in half, and left.  
  
Jan sighed, gathering up her stuff.  
  
"I really need to go take a bath and relax." She turned to leave, "I'll see you guys around eight."  
  
She waved as she ran out of the garden.  
  
Duo looked down at Ai, who was watching Jan leave.  
  
"So," Duo grabbed her around the waist and swung her around, to get her attention, "You wanna come with me to find the ever elusive Wufei?"  
  
She laughed and nodded.  
  
"Ok," Duo twirled her around once more, "so, if you were the Ever Elusive Wu-fie," she giggled, "where would you be?"  
  
Ai looked up into Duo's dark violet eyes, "Um, well, I don't really know Wufei…"  
  
"Oh right!" Duo smacked his forehead, "You don't know Wufei all that well."  
  
He smiled down at her, "But never fear! The Super Shinigami is here to help!"  
  
Acting as though he was shielding his eyes, he scanned the yard, "With Super Shinigami's laser eyesight, we'll seek out the Ever Elusive Wu-fie with out a doubt!"  
  
Ai was laughing to hard to contribute to their little game.  
  
"Ah-ha! What's that Awesome Ai!? He's in the Dreaded Cavern of Meditation!"  
  
Duo exclaimed in a deep mocking voice.  
  
"Gosh-golly willikers, Super Shinigami! Not the Dreaded Cavern of Meditation!" he added in a slightly higher pitched whiney voice.  
  
"Off we GO!" he bellowed, twirling her around.  
  
Once she had stopped laughing enough to stand up properly, Duo leaned down and whispered, "Ready?"  
  
She just smiled.  
  
As he unwrapped his arms from around her waist, his hands brushed across her spine, causing Ai to shiver.  
  
"You cold?" Duo asked, as he re-wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.  
  
Ai just snuggled into arms, and the two of them headed off toward the Chinese boy's room.  
  
"Yea, so that's how me and Li know each other." Duo concluded.  
  
"I was wondering about that." Ai murmured.  
  
"So, how do you know Li?"  
  
"We went to the same school. Jan too."  
  
"Cool, what school?"  
  
"St. Ignasius." At Duo's look of cluelessness, Ai continued, "It's basically this really old-fashioned Catholic private school, out in the States. Nuns, priests, uniforms, the whole deal."  
  
Duo laughed, "How did Li get signed into a place like that?"  
  
Ai smiled, "I don't really know. It doesn't seem to really suit her. She came in the middle of our sophomore year. And, oh my god, she caused such an uproar. Her and Jan."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because here were these two "heathen" girls who challenged everything the school stood for. Jan wouldn't wear her uniform, and if she did, she had altered it in some way. Like there's the old rule that a girls skirt is supposed to touch the floor when she kneels." Ai laughed at Duo's expression, "Better believe it. Well anyway, one day Jan came to class with her skirt altered to the size of a mini skirt. She almost got kicked out for that. And when she changed the school mascot from a lion to a gargoyle, they were about ready to shove her head in the baptism bowl and try to start all over again."  
  
"What about Li?" Duo asked, curious, "Was she that bad?"  
  
"Well, she's had her share of close calls. The priests and nuns just couldn't understand her ideal in realism, just like Li couldn't understand Catholicism, even if they hand fed her the Bible."  
  
"That was it?"  
  
"Basically that's what it always came down to. Li wasn't a Catholic and wasn't afraid to challenge their beliefs. It bothered the crap out of them."  
  
She shook her head, and remembered all the troubles her two friends got into in high school. "I believe those two found every loop hole in the book. They changed almost every rule once we left the school."  
  
Duo laughed, "I knew she was a troublemaker. What about you? How did you end up there?"  
  
"Well, my aunt has this thing where she has to send me to the "most highly- acclaimed" schools around. So I ended up at St. Ignasius All-Girls Private School for the Gifted and Talented." Ai sighed.  
  
"I'm assuming you didn't like it?"  
  
"No, not necessarily. St. Ignasius was a lot more fun once Li and Jan showed up. We were the top students in every class and were always the winners in contests. Li in mathematics and sciences, Jan in art and history, and me in music and languages."  
  
"So you never got kicked out?"  
  
"No, we were too valuable to the school to be kicked out. We won too many awards. It wasn't just academics either. We each were top in our sports. Li liked all the contact sports like soccer and basketball, I did volleyball and track, while Jan did swimming and diving."  
  
"Wow, you're regular over achievers." Duo teased, poking her in the side.  
  
"Maybe that's why we graduated early." Ai poked right back.  
  
"Whoa! Really?"  
  
"Yea, we graduated a year ahead of the rest of our class. I think it was partly because they were tired of us causing trouble."  
  
"Hey, wait you never said anything about you causing trouble."  
  
Ai blushed, "Well I didn't do much."  
  
"But you did something. Come on, spill!"  
  
"Um, well they were kind of peeved that I took Li's side in a campaign that questioned God, and that I never used their suggested music in concerts."  
  
"Why not? I mean about the music?"  
  
"Oh, that. Well they never had anything different. It was all Catholic "we- love-God" pieces. Whereas I stuck to more diverse music. Ones that celebrated other religions than Catholicism."  
  
Duo whistled. "Is that all?"  
  
"Hey! Religon's a big thing to Catholics."  
  
Duo just laughed.  
  
"Hmph. Well anyway, I think they really couldn't figure me and Li out, that's why they thought of us as such trouble makers."  
  
"What was wrong with the two of you?"  
  
Ai glared at him.  
  
"Ok, ok, what was wrong with Li?"  
  
"Well, it was probably that we were two of the most infamous "heathens" in the school, yet we both wore crosses. Neither of us commited to Catholicism or any other form of religon, but we wore religious symbols. Really confused them."  
  
"It would confuse me too."  
  
"Hmm." Ai looked off, caught in memories.  
  
"So, I know why Li wears a cross, but why do you?"  
  
"Oh, um, it's my mother's."  
  
"Oh. What happened to her?"  
  
"Her and my father died in the war, shortly after I was born." Duo hugged Ai a little closer, as she continued, "So that left me with my aunt, who was one of the elite in Romafeller.  
  
"I know she loved me, she just never seemed to want me around. I was always at boarding schools or off at some camp. I think she didn't want to invovle me in the war, that's why she always sent me away.  
  
"When she died after my graduation, I inherited everything. That's how I started J.I.A. Customs."  
  
"Wait!" Duo stopped walking, staring down at her in awe, "J.I.A. Customs? As in the "house's of the century"-everyone want's one?"  
  
"Uh, well I wouldn't exactly say that, but yes, that's our company." Ai blushed.  
  
"Whoa!" Duo exclaimed as they began walking again. "That's so cool!"  
  
"Yea, Li, Jan, and I are the corporate founders."  
  
"So that's the architecture project she's always talking about?"  
  
"Probably."  
  
"Very, very cool."  
  
The pair stopped outside of one of the many doors along that particular hallway, and paused for a moment.  
  
"Watch out, Awesome Ai, we have arrived." Duo said with a smirk.  
  
"So, this the Dreaded Cavern of Mediation." Ai snickered.  
  
Duo nodded enthusiastically, and began to pound loudly on the door.  
  
Almost immediately, the door opened with a bang, and a furious Chinese boy behind it.  
  
"KISAMA, YUY!-" Wufei stopped abruptly, when he noticed the Japanese boy was absent from sight.  
  
He straightened, then snarled, "What do you want, Maxwell!?"  
  
"My, my aren't we in a cheery mood today?"  
  
Duo squeezed Ai's hand in reassurance. Ai, however, was not the least bit intimidated, and just rolled her eyes.  
  
"Shut up, Maxwell! I don't need any of your shit right now! Aside, from that stupid onna, Jan, Yuy's been on my back about god-knows-what!"  
  
"Uh, sure. So whatcha been up to, Wu-man?"  
  
Wufei gave Duo the death glare, but let the nickname go at that.  
  
"I've been trying to meditate and relax but-"  
  
"Just to let you know," Duo cut in, "just some friendly advice, but I don't think it's going so well, Wu."  
  
"I wonder why!" Wufei shot back.  
  
"Chill, Wu-man!" Duo slapped him on the back, and pulled Ai into the room with him. After settling himself and Ai onto Wufei's bed, Duo turned to his friend and smiled.  
  
Wufei just stared in disbelief.  
  
"What. Are. You…"  
  
"Don't worry! We got it covered." Duo proclaimed, "The Super Shinigami and his faithful sidekick, Awesome Ai are here to help!"  
  
Duo nudged Ai in the side with a wink, as Wufei looked from one to another, still incredulous. In fact, he was still holding the door open with one hand, he was so out of it.  
  
"So, spill Wu-man! What's on your mind? What's up in life? What's up with Nataku? What's up with that "stupid onna"?"  
  
Wufei seemed to finally snap from his trance, as he began to turn bright red, and stuttered, "Maxwell!"  
  
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" Duo responded with cheer.  
  
"So, come on! Wu-fie!" Duo persisted.  
  
"Wu-fie?" the Chinese boy twitched.  
  
"What's up? You tragically upset or something? I mean I know that you're head over heals in love with Jan, but really is this the way you express love?"  
  
Wufei let out a growl before he launched himself at Duo, who just rolled out of the way.  
  
"Tsk, tsk. Wu-fie, are you really that upset?"  
  
Wufei tried to pounce on Duo once more, hurling himself in the direction of his meditation mat. Once again, Duo just dodged the attack by moving away before Wufei got close.  
  
"Man, then you're really gonna be heart-broken about what she said about you."  
  
The Chinese boy, settled himself on his bamboo mat, deciding to let Duo go off on whatever tangent he wanted, as long as it was over soon.  
  
"That's better." Duo sat back down on Wufei's bed, "It's really hard to get you to open up, when you're-"  
  
"Duo!" Wufei growled. "Get on with it."  
  
"You can't rush confessions of love, Wu-fie! But don't worry, we're here to help."  
  
Ai desperately tried to smother her laughter.  
  
Wufei glared at her, "I'm so glad you find this entertaining."  
  
"Thanks." Ai retorted to his sarcasm.  
  
He just rolled his eyes, and turned back to Duo, "So what is this all about?"  
  
"Well, I don't know if we should really tell you all of this…" Duo mocked worry.  
  
"Then don't." Wufei snapped, "Leave."  
  
"Tsk, tsk, Wu-man." Duo shook his head, "Matters of the heart are never easy."  
  
"You said that already! Get on with it!"  
  
"Well…" Duo trailed off, just to infuriate Wufei further.  
  
Ai, sensing it probably wasn't the best idea to push "Wu-fie" too far, picked up where Duo left off, "We came to tell you about Jan."  
  
"And what she confessed to us earlier about you, Wu-fie." Duo continued.  
  
"Like anything that onna says would matter to me!" Wufei retorted.  
  
Duo and Ai got off the bed, and headed toward the door. Ai turned toward Duo and whispered, but loud enough for Wufei to still hear, "I think we shouldn't tell him. It'll kill her to know that he doesn't return her love. Besides he couldn't handle it, more or less."  
  
"What!?"  
  
"You're right, I mean after the huge speech about him, with that special look in her eyes, it's not fair to Jan or Wufei. He'll crack." Duo whispered back.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Well, sorry to waste your time, Wu-man." Duo turned back to Wufei, with a look of sadness and regret on his face, "But some secrets shouldn't be shared."  
  
"WHAT DID SHE SAY!"  
  
"I really don't think you want to know." Ai replied sadly.  
  
"YES I DO!" Wufei yelled.  
  
"Ok, but only because you should know," Duo said, as he and Ai backed away toward the door, "Jan said that you were an egotistical…"  
  
Wufei began to turn pink.  
  
"Condescending…" Ai added.  
  
Then red.  
  
"Prejudice…"  
  
It wouldn't have been surprising if steam began to blow from his nose.  
  
"JERK!" the two called out in unison, as they closed the door, and ran down the hall.  
  
They didn't stop until they reached the safety of Ai's room. Then the two broke down into a fit of laughter, and could have sworn they heard something close to an agonized war cry from Wufei's room.  
  
They sprawled out onto her bed, and tried to catch their breaths.  
  
"That was good." Ai admitted.  
  
"But of course!" Duo exclaimed.  
  
"Hmph!" she snorted.  
  
"Ok, ok, you did pretty well yourself." Duo smiled.  
  
"Yea, ok."  
  
"Hey! What about me!?" Duo looked at her in mock hurt.  
  
"You already praise yourself enough." Ai countered.  
  
"Mou!" he cried.  
  
"You sound like Li."  
  
They lay there for a moment. Duo looked over at the clock, and whistled.  
  
"Wow, it's almost eight."  
  
"Oh, really?"  
  
"Yea."  
  
"Hmm."  
  
Duo got up and headed for the door.  
  
"Well, it's been fun, Ai."  
  
She propped herself up on the bed, and watched him.  
  
"I got to go and wash up and stuff, but I'll see you at dinner." Duo shot her a lopsided grin, and left the room.  
  
Ai just smiled and collapsed back onto the bed.  
  
This was definitely turning out to be a good day.  
  
'Well, if you don't count the show, the airplane ride, the airline food…' Ai frowned.  
  
'Ok, ok, so it's definitely starting out as a good vacation.' She smiled and rolled off the bed to go get ready for dinner.  
  
"Kisama!" Wufei growled to the empty dining room, "Where is everyone!?"  
  
Suddenly, there was a tug on his short ponytail, and he was pulled backward  
  
onto the floor.  
  
"We're in the living room, stupid." Jan leaned over the prone Chinese boy.  
  
With that she turned, and left the room.  
  
Wufei got up and stormed after her down the hallway.  
  
"Don't call me stupid, Onna!" he yelled after her.  
  
"Fine, you're an idiot." she shot back.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Not good enough. Fine then, you're a psycho."  
  
"Onna…" Wufei growled.  
  
"Maybe you're just an egotistical…" Jan taunted over her shoulder.  
  
"Weak!" he yelled back.  
  
"Condescending…"  
  
"Dishonorable cur!"  
  
"Prejudiced…"  
  
"KISAMA-"  
  
Jan suddenly stopped, and twirled around. Wufei nearly ran into her, and  
  
they ended up face to face, a mere few inches from each other. Wufei gulped.  
  
"Is that all you can think of?" she teased, poking him in the forehead.  
  
He just blinked.  
  
She turned away, and as she entered the living room, she called, "JERK!"  
  
"Godammit." Wufei cursed under his breath, then stomped into the living  
  
room.  
  
Wufei found that both couches were occupied, the larger one by Trowa and Ai,  
  
who were sitting at opposite ends, and the smaller couch by Heero and Quatre  
  
snuggling. Duo was on the floor in front of Ai, leaning up against her legs,  
  
and Jan sprawled out on the floor in front of Trowa.  
  
He grumbled as he took the space on the carpet in front of Heero and Quatre,  
  
"Where's Li?"  
  
Taking in the room, Wufei noticed that he was the only one who had chosen to  
  
wear their normal clothing. The girls had dressed down into pajamas and the  
  
guys were mainly dressed in very casual t-shirts and pants. Trowa was  
  
wearing a loose pair of khakis with a dark green shirt. Next to him, Ai was  
  
dressed in a gray tank top with a dancing Marron Glace for the logo, and  
  
violet pj pants decorated with little chibi Aya's. Jan was wearing a  
  
worn-looking karate robe, and had her hair tucked under a handkerchief.  
  
Wufei surreptitiously tried to read the name of the dojo, but it was  
  
difficult considering she was lying down. Duo hadn't abandoned his infamous  
  
black coloring, but he had changed from the normal priest outfit to a pair  
  
of faded black shorts and long-sleeve shirt. Quatre still looked a little  
  
dressy, but it was more casual than he usually looked. He wore a pair of  
  
black slacks and an aqua-colored button-up shirt that matched the color of  
  
his eyes. The cobalt blue of Heero's similar shirt, matched his eyes as  
  
well. Instead of slacks, Heero wore a loose pair of dark jeans. After  
  
surveying the room's occupants, he turned to check out the selection of  
  
pizza. He felt a wave of nausea when he noticed Duo's "special" pizza.  
  
"I'm here!" Li called as she ran in the door.  
  
She was wearing pale blue plaid pajamas, complete with the matching  
  
over-sized top, clutching a stuffed camel to her chest.  
  
Leaning over Heero, Li gave Quatre a light peck on the cheek, and exclaimed,  
  
"Thank you!"  
  
Quatre blushed and mumbled, "You're welcome."  
  
Still holding her camel, she found her way over to the couch, and took the  
  
pro-offered seat in Trowa's lap.  
  
"What's that?" Jan asked curiously, getting up and resting her chin on Li's  
  
knee.  
  
"What are you, blind?" Wufei snapped, grabbing a piece of pepperoni pizza.  
  
"It's a stupid stuffed camel."  
  
"Thank you," she growled in response, "but that wasn't what I was asking!,  
  
you cretin!"  
  
Wufei nearly choked on his pizza, when Heero slapped him over the head to  
  
keep him from answering.  
  
"What is it?" Ai repeated, catching Li's wandering attention. Trowa was  
  
currently nuzzling her neck and pulling her closer to him.  
  
"Oh!" Li smiled, "Quatre gave it to me. It's a stuffed camel." Li then held  
  
up the stuffed toy for everyone to see.  
  
Ai coughed, "I think we gathered that."  
  
*Thppbb!* Li stuck her tongue out at Ai, who immediately reciprocated the  
  
action.  
  
"Be nice!" she whined, "It's my birthday present!"  
  
Jan nearly spit out the chocolat milk she was drinking, "WHAT!? You're  
  
birthday isn't for another 4 months!"  
  
"I know."  
  
Another tongue-sticking-out contest pursued.  
  
"Ok, ok," Duo cut in, "So, babe, what's his name?"  
  
Duo pointed in the general direction of Li and her camel but the slice of pizza he was using wasn't very specific.  
  
Li turned to look at Trowa behind her, then looked back at Duo, confused.  
  
"Duo, I thought you already knew who Trowa was?" Li pointed at Trowa.  
  
That caused just about everyone to choke on either their pizza or sodas.  
  
Trowa chuckled, "I think he meant your camel."  
  
"Oh." Li blushed and tried to bury herself further into Trowa's embrace.  
  
"It's Trowa."  
  
"Trowa!" everyone shouted.  
  
Both Li and Trowa began to turn different shades of red, as everyone stared at them.  
  
"Uh-huh." Li responded shyly, hugging her Trowa-camel tighter.  
  
"What made you think of that!?" Wufei demanded.  
  
"Yea!?" Ai and Duo chorused.  
  
"Knowing you, it would be something like Humphrey." Jan added, "Not Trowa."  
  
Li looked like she was about to cry, or go ballistic on all of them.  
  
"Well I-"  
  
"I like it." Trowa cut her off, promptly ending all their comments.  
  
Li blushed.  
  
"You would." Wufei snorted.  
  
Wufei returned, after wiping off the pizza that had been thrown at him and getting an ice pack for his head, where Quatre and Heero had both slapped him, hard, to find the blond and braided boys rummaging through the collection of movies. The two bickered over which movie to watch, while Wufei took his seat on the floor, this time a little farther away from Heero's reach and closer to where Duo sat.  
  
"Got it!" The two boys cried out in unison.  
  
"What is it?" Ai asked as Duo popped the tape into the VCR.  
  
"Jurassic Park." Quatre answered, climbing back onto the couch.  
  
"What?!" Jan cried from the floor.  
  
"Yea, I thought we were going to watch a scary movie?!" Ai said poking Duo in the back of the head as he sat down.  
  
"It is a scary movie!" Li protested.  
  
"To you!" Ai and Jan shot back.  
  
"Shut up. It's starting." Heero cut in.  
  
They all settled in to watch their not-so-scary scary movie. Much to Trowa's dismay Li had argued her way out of his lap, claiming he couldn't eat with her hair in his face. Sitting between the couch arm and Trowa, Li comfortably ate her cheese pizza with her Trowa-camel in her lap. The real Trowa didn't really care what kind of pizza he ate and attempted to get as close to Li as he could. Ai fiddled with Duo's braid, eating her pepperoni pizza while Duo leaned against her legs and chowed down on his "specialty" pizza.  
  
Heero and Quatre snuggled and munched on their pizza, while Wufei ate his pizza in silence on the floor, occasionally switching his attention from the movie to Jan and then back again. Jan shifted around on the floor so that she imitated Duo, as she leaned against Li's legs and drank her chocolate milk.  
  
Quatre eventually fell asleep in Heero's arms and missed the remainder of the movie. Heero excused them and carried the sleeping boy up to their room. After they had left, Wufei claimed the vacated couch and continued to rub his sore head. Both he and Jan had received whacks on the back of the head for fighting during the movie.  
  
Even though the pair had argued quite loudly, Li had become so absorbed in the movie that Trowa had been able to pull her back into his lap without her noticing. Li just stared at the screen clutching her half-eaten slice of pizza.  
  
Only when the movie had ended did she look away from the TV.  
  
"Oh, hello." She smiled up at Trowa.  
  
He smiled, "Hi."  
  
Realizing she hadn't finished her pizza, Li proceeded to munch on the remainder.  
  
"So how'd you like the movie?" Duo asked the group.  
  
"Boring."  
  
"Weak"  
  
"Can we watch something cool now?"  
  
*shrug*  
  
"Hmph wumfp nuthp-"  
  
"Babe, swallow then talk." Duo told Li.  
  
She finished chewing, then stuck her tongue out at him and repeated.  
  
"It was a genetic impossibility."  
  
Duo paused, "Wha-"  
  
Ai slapped her hand over his mouth, "Don't ask."  
  
Duo removed her hand from his mouth, then kissed it, "Whatever you say, doll."  
  
Ai blushed, "Ok, then get me a soda."  
  
Duo mocked a frown, "Mou!"  
  
And was then hit in the forehead by an empty Sprite can.  
  
"Don't' make fun of me-" Li pouted.  
  
"What are we going to watch, now?" Wufei cut in, not caring to hear Li whine.  
  
Jan got off the floor and started to go through Quatre's movies.  
  
"Hey! Why do you get to pick!?" Wufei demanded.  
  
"Because the guys got to pick the last movie, and it sucked!" Ai shot back, getting up, "So, it's our turn!"  
  
She started shuffling through the movies, helping Jan pick out something. The two began to whisper back and forth, obviously bickering about which movie to pick.  
  
"This is what happens when you let women decide anything." Wufei sneered.  
  
Jan shot him a glare and turned back to the movies.  
  
"Ah ha!" she cried, "This is the best movie! And I'm sure Wufei is just going to love it!"  
  
"What's it called!?" Wufei growled, suspicious.  
  
"To Wong Foo." Jan replied with a smirk.  
  
Wufei glared at her warily, "Sounds ok."  
  
"More like 'perfect'." Ai snickered.  
  
Jan and Ai got a kick out of the guy's responses to the movie. Duo had laughed the whole way through, thinking of their two missing friends. Wufei had the most disgusted look on his face that looked though it was stuck there, with the occasional twitch.  
  
"That was hilarious!" Duo exclaimed. "Can't you just picture Quatre and Heero in drag!?"  
  
"it was stupid." Wufei snorted over everyone's laughter.  
  
"Aww, come on, Wu-man. You know you loved it!" Duo teased.  
  
"Shut up, Maxwell! It was sad depiction of the weak men of the AMERICAN society, who were sick-minded enough to consider themselves women!"  
  
Duo just shrugged off the retort with a laugh.  
  
"Mou! What time is it?" Li asked through a yawn.  
  
Jan looked at her watch, "Uh, it's about 2 am."  
  
Ai shot off the couch knocking the back of Duo's head with her knees.  
  
"2 am! Oh my god!"  
  
Ai bean rushing around the room picking up stuff and hurriedly shoving it back into place.  
  
"What's the big deal?" Jan asked sipping her fiftieth chocolate milk.  
  
"Yea?" Li added, snuggling deeper into Trowa's arms.  
  
Ai collapsed onto the couch again and wailed, "But now I'll never be able to get up in time to go shopping!"  
  
Jan groaned, "We were going to go check out the Asian Culture Fair tomorrow, weren't we?"  
  
Ai sniffed.  
  
"Oh, damn. That looked like it had a lot of great stuff for our garden too." Jan sighed.  
  
"Won't you guys be able to make if you to bed now?" Duo asked.  
  
"Maybe but if we get up too early… well, let's just say you don't want a tired Ai on your hands." Jan explained. Li groaned. Ai pouted.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well if you don't want your head snapped off, you'd better let Ai get at least 9 hours of sleep." Li told him.  
  
"Can't we just go to the fair in the afternoon, and then come back to the night festival later?" Trowa suggested.  
  
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Duo said hopping up off the ground.  
  
"Well as long as I can get in a few hours of shopping…"  
  
"Don't worry, doll." Duo smiled, and then heaved Ai off the couch, over his shoulder.  
  
"Eep!"  
  
"Come on, let's get you to bed already then." Duo winked at the rest of them.  
  
"DUO! I can walk you know!" Ai pouted.  
  
Duo laughed and made his way toward the door.  
  
Before the pair left, he stopped to give Li a goodnight peck on the cheek, and then carried Ai out of the room.  
  
"Night!" Ai called out.  
  
"G'night." Jan gurgled through her milk.  
  
Li tried to answer through another yawn. It didn't work.  
  
"Maybe we should head up too." Trowa calmly stood and lifted Li into his arms.  
  
"Goodnight!" Li called over Trowa's shoulder as he carried her out of the room.  
  
Jan waved back.  
  
Once the pair had left, Jan finished off her last chocolate milk and turned to excuse herself from the room.  
  
"Well I think-"  
  
She stopped short as she noticed that Wufei had fallen asleep. She quietly got up and tiptoed over to him.  
  
Jan studied his feature for a moment, before tucking a stray piece of hair behind his ear.  
  
She whispered "jerk" before leaning down to place a soft kiss on his lips.  
  
Backing up a few steps, Jan quietly watched him snore a little, before she whacked him over the head and yelled, "Hey cretin!"  
  
Wufei jumped up and sleepily sputtered nonsense about injustice for a moment, until he realized who had just woken him up.  
  
"Kisama woman!" he shouted.  
  
Jan just laughed at him.  
  
"What do you want!?" Wufei demanded hotly.  
  
"To see your smiling face." Jan mocked.  
  
Wufei just snarled in response.  
  
"Well I'm off to bed." Jan continued easily, "You know Wufei-"  
  
She paused at the door for a second.  
  
"-you really should get more sleep, you look just awful!"  
  
Jan snickered at his outraged look before dodging out of the room.  
  
The sofa cushion landed with a 'plop' as hit the wall where Jan had currently been standing.  
  
He could still hear her laughing down the hall, as he collapsed back onto the over-stuffed chair.  
  
Wufei sat there for a moment, thinking. He chuckled to himself thinking about the humor of all the events that had occurred that day. Then he blushed shyly, remembering Jan's goodnight kiss.  
  
'Well, I'll just have to get her back for that.' He thought with a smirk.  
  
Then with the smile still on his face, he too got up to go to bed.  
  
  
  
Wufei wasn't the only one smiling; Duo was sauntering down the hall toward Li's room, where Trowa would undoubtedly be. He smiled while he walked and studied the weaving patterns of the Arabic rugs and ornate ceilings, thinking about the scene that had just occurred about 10 minutes ago.  
  
After carrying Ai out of the room, he had set her down and the two had walked hand in hand toward Ai's room. Once there, they had exchanged goodnight's and hugged. He had been able to sneak in a small kiss on the cheek, before she had entered, and closed the door.  
  
He smiled as he rounded the corner, think of how cute Ai looked, especially when she blushed and then immediately ducked back behind the corner when he noticed Trowa and Li.  
  
Duo watched the two from behind the wall, curious.  
  
Li was leaning back against the door still holding her Trowa-camel, looking up at the real Trowa. Trowa, who had his arms around her waist, smiled at something Li had said leaned down, speaking a whisper of a response. The two were now touching foreheads and Li's soft giggles and Trowa's murmuring responses down the hall to an eavesdropping Duo. Duo wondered what the two talking about, but wouldn't risk getting any closer.  
  
Finally Trowa leaned down even further to plant a soft kiss on Li's lips, before he straightened and whispered a 'goodnight'. Duo quickly turned away from the scene and paced down the hall a ways as to not look guilty of any eavesdropping. 


End file.
